Four England fans who traveled to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and never returned home were reunited 40 years later at the England vs. Croatia match in Dallas last week. Gary Allen, Stuart Bates, David Arnold, and Garry Hardwicke, all from the West Midlands, originally went to support the Three Lions but ended up settling in the United States and Mexico, building new lives, careers, and families.
Reunion at the Croatia Match
Gary Allen, 63, now living in Atlanta, and Stuart Bates, 63, who resides in Texas, met at the game for the first time in decades. They watched England's 4-2 victory over Croatia from $3,000 seats after Gary and his son gate-crashed a Croatian VIP box, helping themselves to free beer and food. The trio also reunited with Steve Dawson, known as Texas Steve, who had hosted them 40 years ago and became a lifelong friend. They attended their first England game together and celebrated the win with drinks late into the night.
Gary described the experience: "It was amazing to see the lads because it had certainly been a while. The place was absolutely packed around the stadium, all the bars were rammed, but once you got inside, it was just incredible. It is the best stadium I have ever watched England in, and they've certainly come a long way since Mexico 86." He added, "We paid £700, so around £500 each for our tickets, but we were in the Croatia end – all of a sudden we had these $3,000 seats. So we watched the game in luxury, and it was some experience."
The Original Adventure
In 1986, the friends, then aged 20 to 23, left their jobs and set off for Mexico with little more than backpacks and a few hundred pounds. They called themselves The Disco Firm and were mostly Wolves fans from Stourbridge and Lye, Worcester, except David Arnold, a Birmingham City fan from Solihull. They traveled to Monterrey and Acapulco, watching every England game until the team was knocked out by Argentina and Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal. During their hard-partying trip, two of them even convinced local women they were England players Peter Shilton and Gary Lineker.
Stuart Bates, a father of four living in Houston, Texas, recalled: "Stourbridge in the 80s was tough, I had been working on a building site at the time and a lot of the lads had lost their jobs. We were watching Duran Duran videos filmed in Rio and Bowie filming in Australia, and I knew I just wanted to travel. When the chance came, I just thought why not even though we knew nothing about Mexico. We had the time of our lives."
New Lives Across the Atlantic
After the tournament, the men chose not to return. Gary built a company from scratch in the sewage and drain equipment industry, turning over $20 million annually before retiring last year. Stuart became successful in the car industry in Houston. David stayed in Mexico, becoming head of a school in Monterrey, where he still lives. Garry Hardwicke told his partner he was going out for a pint of milk and did not return for 12 years; he later settled in Florida but passed away two years ago. Between them, the four have 14 children.
Their Mexico adventure is now the subject of a new documentary titled Lost Down Mexico Way.
